Alleged money launderer, car thief claims to have been ‘good friend and business partner’ of deceased victim

Alleged money launderer and car thief Adrian Muscat claimed to have been “a good friend” and “business partner” of one of the three victims from whom he is accused of stealing vehicles.

Though the exact nature of the relationship between Muscat and the deceased victim, Ibrahim Halim, remains unclear at this stage, Muscat’s lawyers repeatedly asked Inspector Christian Xuereb to confirm whether the police officers who initiated the investigation had looked into Muscat’s relationship with Halim.

As previously reported by The Shift, Muscat is accused of stealing three luxury vehicles from the Marriott Hotel in St Julian’s. Separately, this news portal had also investigated a blatantly illegal restaurant run by the accused and his family in Siġġiewi.

Inspector Xuereb, stationed at St Julian’s district and therefore in charge of responding to the theft in question, noted that his role in the investigation was limited to establishing the primary facts of the case before it was determined internally that the case should be passed on to the Major Crimes Unit.

When questioned by the defence about how this decision was made, Xuereb stated that this was done because the police had received a formal report about one of the stolen vehicles and another report noting that Halim was found dead, clearly indicating that the matter had to be escalated to the appropriate specialist unit.

During the last hearing in February, Inspector Shawn Pawney, who runs the unit’s stolen vehicles section, had testified how CCTV footage led them to confirm the whereabouts of the three luxury vehicles, which were reported as stolen from the Marriott’s parking lot.

On Friday, Inspector Xuereb added more detail to Pawney’s testimony, noting that Muscat had towed two of the vehicles by calling roadside assistance services. Previous testimony suggested that Muscat allegedly towed the third vehicle himself. During police interrogation, Muscat claimed that he wanted to tow all three vehicles, which he believed belonged to Halim, for “safekeeping”.

After the police managed to trace the three vehicles – a Bentley Intercontinental, an Audi S7, and a Rolls-Royce Ghost, worth hundreds of thousands of euros in total, to a Żebbuġ showroom linked to the accused, call logs from roadside assistance services were requested.

Those call logs confirmed that Muscat made two calls: One requesting the towing service and another requesting that the cars be towed back to where they were found after police had started investigating the case.

Besides Inspector Xuereb, three other witnesses testified at Friday’s hearing: Representatives of the road service company, Transport Malta, and the telecommunications company.

The road service representative confirmed that in February, she received a call from the driver sent to respond to Muscat’s request for towing services, who asked her where the client was upon his arrival in the parking lot.

She could not answer how or why Muscat justified making a call about vehicles that he did not own, as that call would have been handled by a separate representative. This information is to be presented during the next hearing.

Transport Malta’s representative was asked to present registration details for the allegedly stolen vehicles, while a representative for the telecommunications company involved was asked to hand over Muscat’s call logs as evidence.

Defence lawyers Franco Debono and Matthew Xuereb requested an expedited evaluation of the vehicles in question in order to assess whether the freezing order issued in Muscat’s regard was appropriately quantified.

Magistrate Leonard Caruana noted that the court has already ordered the Asset Recovery Bureau, the Authority responsible for assets seized by the authorities, to provide an evaluation of the vehicles.

Noting the defence’s request, the magistrate issued an order requiring the director of the Bureau to testify during the proceedings, to avoid the need to appoint another expert to carry out the evaluation.

The next hearing is scheduled to be held on 11 May.